Presidents Cup enters final day with teams tied

Two years later and halfway across the world, the Presidents Cup is as close as ever.

Chris DiMarco came up aces, Tiger Woods and Jim Furyk came through with clutch comebacks and Retief Goosen and Adam Scott proved as formidable as ever Saturday, all of them turning in solid performances that left the matches at Gainesville, Va., tied going into a final round of 12 singles matches.

Each team had 11 points, the first time the Presidents Cup has been tied going into a Sunday since it began in 1994.

Woods will face Goosen in the third match, while Fred Couples will take on Vijay Singh in the fifth match. Phil Mickelson and DiMarco anchor the U.S. team, facing Angel Cabrera and Stuart Appleby in the final two matches.

The Americans had a chance to take the outright lead in the final better-ball match of the afternoon.

Couples, who has provided some of the most dramatic images from Robert Trent Jones Golf Club, hit a wedge into 8 feet on the 18th hole and was poised to score a 1-up victory. But his putt stayed above the cup as he and Davis Love III had to settle for a halve with Michael Campbell and Cabrera.

No one had to work harder than Woods and Furyk, who birdied the last two holes in alternate shot in the morning to earn a halve against Singh and Appleby, then went the distance against them in the afternoon. It was just as tense as Furyk carried the load and kept the Americans in the match.

Woods finally delivered, making an 18-foot birdie on the 16th hole that barely caught the left edge of the cup for a 1-up lead. Appleby hit a wedge into 10 feet on the last hole, but missed the putt.

“I didn’t really do much except for read puts and have the pompoms out,” Woods said.

The star was DiMarco, who has only three PGA Tour victories in his 10-year career, but plays like a major champion in these team events. He made only the second hole-in-one in the Presidents Cup in the morning, holed just about every putt that mattered and joined Mickelson in two victories the Americans needed.

PGA Tour

Woody Austin took the third-round lead in the Texas Open in San Antonio, shooting a 3-under-par 67 in 100-degree heat and wind gusting to 30 mph as the edge of Hurricane Rita roared by about 150 miles to the east.

The 41-year-old Austin made a 4-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole to finish at 13-under 197 on the LaCantera Golf Club’s Resort Course. Robert Gamez (68), Mark Wilson (66) and Dean Wilson (70) were tied for second.

Austin began the round two strokes behind Dean Wilson and was as far back as five shots on the back nine. The two-time PGA Tour winner rallied with an eagle on the 536-yard, par-5 14th – hitting his 203-yard approach to 2 feet – and two-putted from 80 feet on No. 16 for another birdie after driving the green on the 348-yard hole.

Seve Trophy

Britain and Ireland came from behind to pull one point ahead of Continental Europe on the third day of the Seve Trophy at The Wynyard Club in Billingham, England.

The home team won the greensomes 3-1 and the foursomes 2 1/2 to 1 1/2 for an overall lead of 9 1/2 to 8 1/2 . Today’s 10 singles matches will decide the Ryder Cup-style contest.

“From 4-1 down on opening day, we lead into the singles. That’s a great effort from everyone on the team and a lot of credit goes to the young guns,” said Britain and Ireland team captain Colin Montgomerie.